Shawn R. Beals reports: The Middletown school district is working to restore access to its computer systems after discovering a ransomware virus Thursday that had locked the staff out. Ransomware is a type of computer virus that encrypts data, rendering it unusable. Typically, the virus demands a ransom payment in order to have access restored….
Category: U.S.
FBI: Man arrested at Rochester tanning salon stole photos, passwords from 150 victims
WHAM reports: A Rochester man previously charged with recording a woman at a tanning salon in Rochester without her permission may have stolen personal information and photos from as many as 150 victims, according to an FBI investigation. On December 7, 2016, investigators with the Rochester Police Department said a woman at the Zoom Tan…
Notre Dame de Namur University notifying financial aid applicants of data security incident
Notre Dame de Namur University is notifying some financial aid applicants that their information may have been compromised when an employee fell prey to a phishing attack. In its notification letter (reproduced below), Henry Roth, the Chief Financial Officer and VP of Administration, writes that the university learned of the possible compromise on May 18. Investigation…
Equifax Engineer Who Designed Breach Website Charged With Insider Trading
Catalin Cimpanu reports: The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicted a former Equifax engineer on charges of insider trading. According to court documents, Sudhakar Reddy Bonthu, 44, of Cumming, Georgia, worked for Equifax between September 2003 and March 2018. Starting September 2013, Bonthu worked as Production Development Manager of Software Engineering in Equifax’s…
Firefighter personnel records found tossed on floor of condemned Yonkers firehouse
Christopher J. Eberhart reports: Records containing firefighters’ personal information — including Social Security numbers, names, addresses and phone numbers — were found in the condemned firehouse in downtown Yonkers. The personnel records were misfiled under the previous administration, according to Fire Commissioner Robert Sweeney, and left in the New School Street firehouse before the Yonkers Fire…
(UPDATED) Equifax Agrees to New Data Breach Safeguards in Consent Order With State Regulators
Dan M. Clark reports on six major actions Equifax agreed to take to settle eight states’ charges against them over the 2017 data breach. From his report, because I cannot find a copy of the actual consent decree online just yet: The company’s board members will have to review and approve a written risk assessment…